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This weblog shares information on key ACP-EU programmes and events
from Brussels relevant to agriculture and rural development in ACP countries.
Date : 23/09/2013
CTA Brussels Newsletter
Main events in the week
- Main Events for the Week 23/09/2013 – 29/09/2013
- Video Guest: Rohana Subasinghe (Senior Aquaculture Officer, FAO)
- Brussels Briefing on Agricultural transformation in Africa
- EU pledges funding to enhance trade capacity of developing countries
- Tax dodging: NGOs blame how EU firms affect poor countries
- EC continues to push for a finance tax
- EU supports water and sanitation sector in Angola
- Somalia receives €1.8 billion for rehabilitation
- EP Trade committee aims to strengthen EU’s trade-regulation powers
- EU pledges €532m for Haiti reconstruction
- EAC Secretariat gets a contribution of €2.9 M
- EPAs: Kenya close to sign trade pacts with EU
- Migration and asylum: Ghana revives agreement with Italy
- Ghana: Decision on EPA by end of October
- Biofuels: EMPs vote to cap use for transport
- Congo, CAR: EP condemned human rights abuses
- Pesticide producer challenges EC ban decision
- EU: September edition of "Commodity price data"
- Spain: Against the ratification of fisheries agreement with Mauritania
- Brussels to tackle Europe's alien species
- EU report: Brussels biofuels policy hikes food prices by up to 50%
- Main Events for the Week 23/09/2013 – 29/09/2013
2013-09-23
European Parliament:
- 23-24 September: Committee on Foreign Affairs
- 25 September: EU support to United Nations and African Union Peacekeeping
European Commission:
- 24 September: Conference: "The EU dairy sector : developing beyond 2015"
Council of the EU:
- 23 September: Meeting of Agriculture and Fisheries Council (AGRI)
- 29-30 September: Informal meeting of directors general on fishery
ACP Group:
- 24 September: Bureau of the Committee of Ambassadors
- 24 September: Steering Committee on Sustainable Development
- 25 September: W/G on the Future Perspectives of the ACP Group
- 25 September: ACP-EU Dialogue on Migration
- 26 September: Committee of Ambassadors
You can also follow our new Facebook group CTABrussels and our Twitter account CTABrussels to receive up-to-date information on EU-ACP events.
- Video Guest: Rohana Subasinghe (Senior Aquaculture Officer, FAO)
2013-09-23
NEWSLETTER_CATEGORIES : Regional Fisheries
In this week’s CTA Brussels video interview, Rohana Subasinghe, Senior Aquaculture Officer, FAO, talks about the risks and challenges of aquaculture in the Africa, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries, and the specific situation of small-scale aqua-farmers.
Subasinghe advices to implement good management practices to avoid diseases. He points out the risks of diseases due to intensive concentrated production. Most of the fishes that we eat come from aquaculture and are produced by small-scale farmers. The challenge is to set up the required policies, regulations and institutional environment in the ACP countries to ensure aquaculture brings them a fair income, good nutrition and decent livelihoods.
On 15th May 2013, Rohana Subasinghe held a presentation on aquaculture as part of the Brussels Briefing ‘Geography of food: reconnecting with origin in the food system’ organized by CTA Brussels at the ACP Secretariat in Brussels.
You can find out more and watch his presentation here.
 More on FAO
- Brussels Briefing on Agricultural transformation in Africa
2013-09-23
NEWSLETTER_CATEGORIES : Agriculture, Rural development
‘Drivers of success for agricultural transformation in Africa ‘– this is the theme of the next Brussels Development Briefing – organized by the Technical Centre for Agriculture (CTA), together with the DG Development and Cooperation of the European Commission (EC/DEVCO), the ACP Secretariat and the European NGO confederation for Relief and Development, Concord.
Register and join us on Wednesday, 2nd October at the Borschette Congress Center (in Brussels) to hear what, researchers, politicians and experts have to say on the matter. If you cannot be in Brussels on 2nd October, you can still follow the Briefing live online via webstreaming. The link will be announced on the day of the event.
You can download the detailed program of the event, as well as a brief research note on the topic here.
Use the form on the right to register, or send an email to boto@cta.int. To find more about the Briefings click here; to consult the material produced at and after the last Briefing on Fish-farming click here.
The Brussels Development Briefings are regular events organized in Brussels by the Technical Centre for Agriculture (CTA) – in collaboration with the European Commission, the ACP Group, and other partners – on key issues and challenges for rural development in the context of EU/ACP cooperation.
More information
- EU pledges funding to enhance trade capacity of developing countries
2013-09-20
NEWSLETTER_CATEGORIES : ACP-EU Trade
This year, the European Union(EU) will donate € 400,000 to the Trade Facilitation National Needs Assessments Trust Fund and € 200,000 to the Trade Facilitation Window I Trust Fund. Another donation of € 100,000 will be allocated to support the effective participation of Least Developed Countries in the 9th World Trade Organization (WTO) Ministerial Conference.
These donations will finance technical assistance programmes to help developing and least developed countries identify their needs and priorities in the trade facilitation negotiations. Trade facilitation looks at how procedures and controls regulating the movement of goods across national borders can be simplified to reduce costs and burdens. It also aims to make trade flows as efficient as possible.
Source: WTO
Read more
- Tax dodging: NGOs blame how EU firms affect poor countries
2013-09-20
NEWSLETTER_CATEGORIES : Development Policy
NGOs claim that European Union (EU) firms deprive economically struggling countries by dodging taxes. Concord, a group of non-governmental organizations (NGOs), stated that the tax revenues that are being withheld from these poorer countries add up to about $100 billion, due to the lack of appropriate EU policies.
Concord added that although the EU is legally bound to policy coherence for development (through the Lisbon treaty), its policies are sill and inadequate and ineffectively corrected. As a rebuttal, the Commission stated that legislation already requires large companies to disclose governmental payments over €100. Concord still demands that European council extend the automatic exchange of tax information with developing countries to enable better communication and an increase in accountability.
Source: The Guardian
Read more
- EC continues to push for a finance tax
2013-09-20
NEWSLETTER_CATEGORIES : Development Policy
The European Commission (EC) claims that it will continue to push for a proposed Financial Transactions Tax (FTT), despite a recent opinion from the European Council’s Legal Services which states that such a tax would be a violation of EU Law.
After meeting with EU finance ministers in Vilnius, EU tax commissioner Algirdas Semeta defended the FTT, declaring, “The European Commission is absolutely confident in the legality of the tax we have proposed. We reject any claims that it goes against the treaties or that it compromises the single market.”
The 14-page opinion crafted by European Council lawyers concluded that the transaction tax would exceed the tax powers of individual member states.
Only 11 countries are seeking to adopt the FTT plan under the enhanced cooperation procedure, but all 28 member-states must negotiate and agree on the legal text. Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Austria, Portugal, Belgium, Estonia, Greece, Slovakia and Slovenia have met strong opposition from countries like the United Kingdom, who are skeptical of the success of such a geographically limited proposal.
Source: EUobserver
Read more
Europe's Tobin tax plan challenged by Italy, UK
10% of Financial Transaction tax for development?
- EU supports water and sanitation sector in Angola
2013-09-19
NEWSLETTER_CATEGORIES : Archive
The European Union (EU) has invested €18 million for water sanitation improvements in Angola. Investing in water sanitation will not only improve an aging public utility, but also help to eradicate poverty, promote sustainable development, and save lives, said by the delegate of EU embassy to Angola, Maria José Baptista, during the national seminar on 'Water Management'. The EU has been partnering with Angola on various development projects 1988.
Source: AllAfrica
Read more
EU funds safe water project in 150 Senegalese villages
- Somalia receives €1.8 billion for rehabilitation
2013-09-19
NEWSLETTER_CATEGORIES : Development Policy
Fifty donor countries pledged 1.8 Billion Euro to Somalia through the “New Deal Compact” to rebuild the country’s political, economic, and security institutions. This compact is a three year plan, agreed upon recently at a conference in Brussels, to aid the development in this country, which has seen war for the past twenty years. Providing 521 million Euro over the past five years, the European Union (EU) has been the largest donor to Somalia.
In 2012, Somalia elected a government which is the first to be recognized internationally in twenty years. The EU’s foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton notes that Somalian president Hassan Sheikh Mohamud has a great challenge in front of him. His main priorities at this moment are the reconstruction of the political institutions and the economy in his country.
While Somali militant group Al-Ahaabab claims that the current government is too corrupt to wisely and fairly appropriate the recently donated funds, the international community has faith in Mohamud’s government and its re-entry onto the world stage, assuming the new government becomes integrated into the its citizens’ lives in a positive fashion.
Source: EUobserver
Read more
Somalia to adopt 'The New Deal’
EU: €124m support for security in Somalia
- EP Trade committee aims to strengthen EU’s trade-regulation powers
2013-09-19
NEWSLETTER_CATEGORIES : ACP-EU Trade
The European Parliament’s Trade Committee, urged on by a report from Member of European Parliament (MEP) Niccolò Rinaldi, requested that the European Commission take steps to strengthen the European Union’s (UE) trade-regulation powers.
The Trade Committee’s proposal would grant several retaliatory measures to the EU, which the European Parliament (EP) would have to authorize before use. Rinaldi’s report claimed that such measures would strengthen the EU’s trade rights and interests.
In its current form, the EU cannot react quickly to contractual violations under World Trade Organization (WTO) and bilateral trade agreements, due to a case-by-case method that slows down all litigation decisions.
Rinaldi was quoted as saying, “Today big trading powers such as the United States only need a few weeks to adopt their retaliation measures, whereas in Europe we need more than a year and a half. Having this instrument at our disposal does not always mean using it, but to show our trading partners that the EU can retaliate quickly.”
Source: ALDE
Read More
World Trade Organization
- EU pledges €532m for Haiti reconstruction
2013-09-17
NEWSLETTER_CATEGORIES : Archive
The European Union (EU) has committed 532 million Euros to aid the reconstruction of Haiti after its earthquake in 2010. Between the 10th and 11th European Development Funds (EDF), 112 million Euros and 420 million were donated to Haiti. The funds will be put toward modernization efforts in Haiti, including finance, state reform, security operations and education, specifically free primary education for children.
This funding from the EU was discussed with European Commissioner for Development Andris Piebalgs on Haitian Prime Minister Laurent Lamotheʼs recent visit to Europe over the past weekend. The allocation of the 112 million Euros will take effect after the United Nations General Assembly, which meets in the United States later in September.
Source: Haiti Libre
Read more
More on humanitarian aid to Haiti
EC humanitarian support to Haiti
- EAC Secretariat gets a contribution of €2.9 M
2013-09-17
NEWSLETTER_CATEGORIES : Development Policy
The East African Community (EAC) Partnership fund has been granted EURO 2.9 million to support the acceleration of their regional integration agenda. The Belgian Government contributed EURO 900,00 to the EAC Partnership fund, while the government of Finland gave EURO 2 million specifically to the EAC regional projects and programmes.
Both the Belgian and Finnish ambassadors to Tanzania reiterated their countries’ commitment to the EAC integration agenda while confirming the contributions in a meeting with Deputy Secretary General Claude Nsengiyumva.
In response, Nsengiyumva highlighted the benefits such an economic boost will have on the EAC’s priority of impacting the lives of the East African people. Nsengiyumva guaranteed continued progress in the EAC’s financial management in order to provide accountability and flexibility, stressing the importance of EAC budget support.
The Deputy Secretary General, along with the Head of the Resource Mobilization Unit at the EAC Secretariat, Dr James Njagu, spoke to the EAC’s past commitment to integration through negotiation. The adoption of the Common Market Protocol as well as sensitization and awareness programmes were also underscored as key steps towards EAC integration.
Source: Pesatimes.com
Read more
More on East African Community (EAC)
- EPAs: Kenya close to sign trade pacts with EU
2013-09-17
NEWSLETTER_CATEGORIES : ACP-EU Trade
Kenya is closer to signing Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) with the European Union (EU)
that will enable more products from Europe to enter the local market on equal terms. Most of the issues, according to the government, have been agreed on.
One of the last point of disagreement is the existing trade pact between South Africa and the EU which could affect trade with Europe. Kenya imports more and more raw materials from South Africa and fears that EU would increase taxes on the goods partly manufactured with those raw materials.
According to the trade agreement between EU and South Africa, some of the items are classified as ‘sensitive’ and not allowed to EU without high taxes while on the other hand, South Africa has trade deal with Kenya allowing these goods. This has made EU wary that South Africa could use Kenya as transit for goods to their market hence violating their trade agreement.
There have been concerns that Kenya might not meet the deadline of October 2014 imposed by the European Union, which could lead to higher tariffs and compromise trade with the EU. “The EU deadline can affect us but it’s not putting pressure on us as to forget the interests of Kenya and the region,” said Mr Rotich a technical expert in the Ministry of East Africa, Commerce and Tourism in charge of EPA’s docket.
Experts have called for the signing of the economic partnership agreement between Kenya and EU to be in sync with the East African regional integration to avoid disrupting business in the bloc. They have expressed concerns that if Kenya, which is particularly under pressure to sign EPAs goes it alone, it could would have great implications on regional trade.
Source: TrademarkEA
Read more
Africa: No EPAs to be signed until April 2014
EPAs: EU wants Kenya to lead
- Migration and asylum: Ghana revives agreement with Italy
2013-09-16
NEWSLETTER_CATEGORIES : Archive
The government of Ghana plans to revive the Bilateral Agreement on Migration to enable Ghanaian workers in the Agricultural Sector to work in Italy work legally in Italy, informed Minister of Employment and Labour Relations (MELR), Nii Armah Ashieteym after the Italian Ambassador Laura Carpini paid a courtesy call on him. “The Bilateral Agreement, which was started in 2011, has still not been finalized. The agreement would allow Ghanaian migrant workers to work in the Agricultural sector of Italy”, he added.
The minister said the Italian Government played a key role in collaboration with the European Commission to support Ghana in its strides to manage and organize Labour Migration. He disclosed that, the government of Ghana will organize a study tour to the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection of Italy in order to strengthen the bilateral relationship that exists.
The agreement follows the AENEAS 2006 Labour Migration Project which was set up with the objective of establishing proper mechanisms for migration management through the national assessment of labour migration policies, capacity building activities and information campaigns on risks of irregular migration in some African countries where asylum issues are particularly acute.
Source: AllAfrica
Read more
More on the Aeneas 2006 Work Programme
- Ghana: Decision on EPA by end of October
2013-09-13
NEWSLETTER_CATEGORIES : ACP-EU Trade, ACP-EU Policy
The Government of Ghana will by end of October (2013) declare its stance on the European Union-Economic Partnership Agreement (EU-EPA). This has been recently disclosed to the Economy Times in Accra by the Ghanaian Deputy Minister of Trade, Nii Lante Vanderpuje.
A special committee set up by government to determine whether Ghana should sign or not the EPA will submit their report to Cabinet for an informed decision by end of October. Vanderpuje added that the government is not rushing to conclude on the agreement until the committee has presented their final report.
In July (2013), the government of Ghana announced a round of consultations with the main relevant stakeholders on the signing of the EPA with the EU.
It is believed that Ghana’s declaration will be determined largely by the ECOWAS position on the trade agreement as the sub-region is yearning for a collective agreement which will favour all member States. It is expected for the government to take a collective decision on Ghana’s stance on the EPAs with Ivory Coast and Nigeria as well.
For well over 30 years, exports from the ACP countries were given generous access to the European market, under different trade and development agreements. Yet, preferential access failed to boost local economies and stimulate growth in ACP countries and the proportion of EU imports, Economy Times notes.
Source: Economy Times
Read more
EPAs: Ghana will engage main stakeholders in policy dialogue
Africa: No EPAs to be signed until April 2014
- Biofuels: EMPs vote to cap use for transport
2013-09-13
NEWSLETTER_CATEGORIES : Energy
European Parliament has called for a cap on the use of traditional biofuels and a speedy switchover to new biofuels from alternative sources such as seaweed and waste, in a vote on draft legislation on Wednesday. The measures aim to reduce greenhouse gas emissions that result from the increasing turnover of agricultural land to biofuel production.
MEPs say "first-generation" biofuels - from crops like corn - should not exceed 6% of the final energy consumption in transport by 2020, amending the current 10% target in existing legislation. They want "advanced biofuels" - sourced from seaweed or certain types of waste - to make up at least 2.5% fuel used in transport by 2020.
MEPs vote by 356 votes to 327 to support a legislative report by Corinne Lepage, a French liberal MEP, which puts a limit on the proportion of food-based biofuels that should make up the fuel mix. It is the parliament's contribution to the new EU policy on biofuels announced by the European Commission last October.
Before becoming law, the draft legislation still have to be agreed with the 28 member states' governments, represented in the EU Council. If they have different position than the Parliament's first reading text, a second reading will be required.
Scientific evidence has shown that the resultant increase in emissions can cancel out some of the biofuels' benefits, when taken into account of the whole life cycle from production to consumption - known as "indirect land use change (ILUC)". Some studies suggest that continuing with the current level of EU incentives for food-based biofuels would actually cancel out the cuts in greenhouse gas emissions achieved by switching to biofuels.
Source: European Parliament
Read more
More on the impact of indirect land-use change
More on the controversy on ILUC relevancy, ahead of Parliament vote
- Congo, CAR: EP condemned human rights abuses
2013-09-13
NEWSLETTER_CATEGORIES : Development Policy
On 12 September, the European Parliament condemned the latest outbreak of violence in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, and the unconstitutional seizure of power in the Central African Republic (CAR) in March.
Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC):
MEPs condemned the latest outbreak of violence in the eastern part of Congo and demanded an immediate end to all human rights abuses, including the alarming and widespread sexual and gender-based violence. They reproved all forms of external support to the "disruptive forces in the DRC" and called on the regional actors to refrain from any acts or statements that would worsen the situation in Congo.
Central African Republic (CAR):
The Parliament criticized also the unconstitutional seizure of power in the Central African Republic, by dint of armed force, by the Séléka coalition in March as well as the violations of humanitarian law and the widespread violations of human rights.
Source: European Parliament
Read more
EU: Central African Republic, the ‘country that the world forgot'
- Pesticide producer challenges EC ban decision
2013-09-12
NEWSLETTER_CATEGORIES : Agriculture
On 27th August, one of the main seeds and chemicals producers, Syngenta, has launched a legal challenge against the European Commission’s (EC) decision to temporarily ban neonicotinoid pesticides over fears to harm bees.
The pesticide producer claims the ban was imposed without the full support of EU countries. In addition, it judges that assessment of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) on which the decision is based, is “inaccurate and incomplete”. It says that EC and EFSA wrongly link pesticides to the decline in bee health.
Greenpeace spokesperson Mark Breddy reacted by saying that Syngenta continues to ignore scientific evidence. Green NGOs have hailed the EU ban, citing evidence from scientific journals that the neonicotinoids damaged the nervous systems of bees and other pollinators. Around a third of the world’s food crops directly depend on natural pollination from bees and other animals.
Source: Euractiv
Read more
Find out more about the EU pesticide ban
- EU: September edition of "Commodity price data"
2013-09-12
NEWSLETTER_CATEGORIES : ACP-EU Trade, Agriculture
The European Commission has released the September 2013 edition of ”Comodity price data”, a price dashboard which provides a summary of commodity price data for the most representative agricultural products and consumer food prices, at EU and world level for the ninth month of the year.
Although not all the products are comparable at both EU and world level, this document is intended to give an indication on the most recent price developments.
Source: European Commission
Read more
The EU March 2013 edition of "Commodity price data"
- Spain: Against the ratification of fisheries agreement with Mauritania
2013-09-12
NEWSLETTER_CATEGORIES : Regional Fisheries
Spain was to use "persuasion" for the European Parliament (EP) not to ratify – during its full plenary taking which took place in Strasbourg between 9-11 September - the fisheries agreement with Mauritania, Fish Information & Services informed on 9 September.
Spanish MEPs are reported to believe that the current state of the agreement disadvantages the Spanish government.
The current agreement excluded the Galician cephalopod fleet from Mauritanian fishery a few months ago. Echoing the claims of Galicia, Spain defends the possibility of capturing cephalopods and returning to Mauritanian fishing grounds.
Some improvements to the terms of the agreement were achieved in the renegotiation of the pact on issues related to the fishing grounds, charges and the possibility of capturing some species such as hake. However, Spain considers that "there are still things to negotiate."
On 29 May, the Fisheries Committee of the European Parliament voted to reject the new European Union-Mauritania protocol to the fishing agreement. The grounds for rejection were that the new clauses regarding licensing for European fleets to fish in Mauritanian waters would be neither profitable nor to the benefit of either party.
Source: Fish Information & Services
Read more
EU-Mauritania Fisheries Agreement: Controversies
EU-Mauritania agreement: unviable?
- Brussels to tackle Europe's alien species
2013-09-11
NEWSLETTER_CATEGORIES : Agriculture
On 9 September, the European Commission proposed rules to combat the estimated €12 billion of damage caused every year to EU farming and infrastructure by invasive animal and plant species.
The EU executive estimates that there are over 12,000 species in the European Union which are alien to the natural environment. With 15% of these growing in number, this has significant implications for the EU’s biodiversity and economy, the Commission says.
For example, the coypu, a large semi-aquatic rodent originally native to South America, has devastated crops agricultural yields in rural France, Euractiv reports. In France, it is considered a pest and authorities have taken steps to eradicate it.
But these efforts are undermined if a bordering member state does not carry out the same eradication measures, European officials believe: “Combating invasive alien species is a prime example of an area where Europe is better when working together,” said Janez Potočnik, the EU environment commissioner.
The EU executive plans to draw up a list of 50 of the EU's most threatening species to target and harmonise eradication effort across the European Union. The rules will focus on prevention, spotting pathways for alien species such as contaminated goods.
Source: EurActiv
Read more
Read the proposals
EU Biodiversity Strategy to 2020
- EU report: Brussels biofuels policy hikes food prices by up to 50%
2013-09-11
NEWSLETTER_CATEGORIES : Environment, Agriculture, Energy
If biofuels received no EU policy support, the price of food stuffs such as vegetable oil would be 50% lower in Europe by 2020 than at present – and 15% lower elsewhere in the world – according to new research by the EU’s Joint Research Centre (JRC), quoted by EurActiv, and published on 5 September.
The “significantly lower” results are because global prices for vegetable oils – which are 60% palm and soy oil – are “strongly driven” by their use as food, says the paper by the JRC, the EU's official scientific and technical research laboratory.
When more soy and palm oil are used for biofuels production, less is available for food use and the resulting scarcity drives food price inflation. “Given that more than half of the vegetable oils are used for biodiesel production in the base (business as usual scenario) in 2020, any decrease in biodiesel production strongly affects the vegetable oil market,” the JRC study says.
The report was published before the European Parliament was preparing for a make-or-break plenary vote on 11 September. That ballot could cap the amount of first generation biofuels allowed in the EU’s 2020 transport energy mix, and introduce land use factors to distinguish between the fuels that are best and worst for the environment.
Also on 5 September, Dr. Harald von Witzke, Professor and Chair for International Agricultural Trade and Development at the Humboldt University of Berlin, Germany said at a conference of EU-Biofuel Policy hosted by the Representation of Bavaria to the European Union (EU) that the impact of EU biofuels on the increase in the global food prices in the recent years has been insignificant. Also, a study released by the energy consultancy Ecofys highlights that the impact of EU biofuels demand until 2010 only increased world grain prices by about 1-‐2%.
Source: Euractiv
Read more
Read the report
Controversy on ILUC relevancy, ahead of Parliament vote
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Ms Isolina BOTO
Head
CTA Brussels Office
39 rue Montoyer
1000 Brussels - Belgium
Tel: +32 (0) 2 513 74 36 (direct); Fax +32 (0) 2 511 38 68
E-mail: boto@cta.int
Website: http://www.cta.int/
Brussels weblog: http://brussels.cta.int/
Brussels Briefings: http://brusselsbriefings.net/
Editor: Etienne Goffin (goffin@cta.int)
NOTE
If you have questions or suggestions, please write to us at : boto@cta.int
For more information on the full range of CTA activities please go to http://www.cta.int/
More information on CTA activities in Brussels at : http://brussels.cta.int/
CTA is an institution of the ACP Group of States (Africa, Caribbean and Pacific) and the EU (European Union), in the framework of the Cotonou Agreement and is financed by the EU.
Copyright © 2011 Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation ACP-EU. Email:cta@cta.int
The opinions expressed in the comments and analysis are those of the authors, and do not necessarily reflect the views of CTA.
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